Student of the Year 2012 (Movie Review)

Dir: Karan Johar
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan
Dur: 2 hrs 20 mins
Genre: Romance
Comment: A good film for teens and college youngsters. Delivers an effective message.

College life isn’t as rosy at it may seem. Those who haven’t yet gone to college envy those who are in it. Those who are in it envy those who have passed out and those who have passed out either remember their college days fondly or grudgingly. Student of the Year reflects similar sympathies. A group of batch mates accidentally meet one another a couple of years after passing out of college. The occasion is the ill health of their then, dean.

The story is narrated by the various ex-students who fill in with their perspectives. The plot is typical. Most of these guys are nobodies at school. Rohan (Varun Dhawan) is the dada of the school despite the fact that his father is on the school board. He is considered a black sheep by his father who doesn’t approve of his ways. Shanaya (Alia Bhatt) is his beautiful girlfriend and also happens to be the most beautiful and talented girl at school. So far so good. With an entry of a showstopper in slow-motion movements and apt music, the school welcomes a new student, Abhimanye (Siddharth Malhotra), with swagger and style that makes even VD nervous. Almost spontaneously a rivalry spawns between these two hunks which eventually peters out into an extraordinary friendship. Soon we have a love triangle that sours friendships and sows misunderstanding and hate. The college year culminates with the declaration of the ‘Student of the year’, a prize for the most-deserving student who excels in all fields. This competition truly turns out to be fierce and is also responsible for destroying many relationships.


The film setting aside its glamour and college fun, is basically about relationships which are made and broken for various reasons. It helps us distinguish between what is really important and what is only temporarily so. Despite the fact that years have elapsed, the protagonists relate the story like it happened only a few days ago. This also shows us the extent to which situations and relationships can affect us. The film was really great. I enjoyed every bit of it. The love-drama added flavour to the film. But the standout for me was the stellar performances by the lead trio. The other protagonists too, did a great job. The film didn’t fail in capturing the eventfulness of college life. The story is well told and delivers a strong message. Kudos to all who were part of this awesome film!    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great Grand Masti 2 (2016) (Movie Review)

Image
Dir: Indra Kumar Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela Dur: 2 hrs 10 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: 1/10 Comment: The jokes, gestures and costumes are sexually suggestive. An absolute waste of time. “What an opening line”, you might think. But to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. This film is in fact, a great grand waste of time. It’s horrible whichever way you look at it. The story is weak and thrives on cheap thrills and sorry jokes. The actresses are no doubt eye-catching but the rest is all a blur. The comedy is in fact tragedy and the film attempts to play on the basest desires of man. It’s unbelievable that actors like Riteish and Vivek would do such a film. I am not a big fan of bollywood but I still feel bad when I see bollywood making films like these. All of a sudden, I see that sex is being propagated through Indian cinema. The views of sex are changing and filmmakers and actors are not hesitating to take on unconvent...
Read more

A Day with Don Bosco

                              Don Bosco was declared the Patron of Youth by Pope John Paul II in 1989. He received his mission: to be Father to the young, in a dream at the tender age of nine. He nurtured this call throughout his life and never wasted an opportunity to gather boys and direct them to God. He did not do this as a spiritual director, (at least no at first!) but rather as a friend, a companion and a seminarian. As a young boy, he would attract youngsters with his magic tricks, tightrope skills, games etc and then get them to recite the rosary with him or recount to them the Sunday sermon (which he remembered thanks to his prodigious memory). Already then, he had ingeniously found a way to combine religion and entertainment. His entertainment was necer for entertainment sake but rather a façade or an advertisment for religious instruction. Even as a young pries...
Read more

St. Joseph: A Father after the Father's Heart (Book Review)

Image
  St. Joseph: A Father after the Father’s Heart , Hyderabad: Don Bosco Publishing House, 2021, Rs. 150, pp. 240. The book is a compilation of articles from various authors writing about qualities of St. Joseph. They have used the litany of St. Joseph as an index and have put together articles on each of the invocations. All the contributors are Salesians from different parts of India but there a couple of contributors from abroad as well. The book lends itself to be a souvenir of the Year of St. Joseph that Pope Francis declared. Let me start out by commenting on the quality of production. The paper is of good quality and so is the design and layout. It is neat and has an attractive cover. Coming to the content, it gets rather repetitive but that is understandable considering that there is so little Biblical foundation for an exposition of St. Joseph. The articles often reference Pope Francis’ letter Patris Corde and extensively utilize Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhort...
Read more